House of Lost and Found

Enchanted Parks is an arts adventure, which sees Saltwell Park, brought to life.

Enchanted Parks is a magical after-dark arts adventure, which sees Gateshead’s famous Victorian park, Saltwell Park, brought to life with visual arts, performance, installation and interactive works in an event for the whole family.

The House of Lost and Found

The service we offer is simple.

We reunite lost things with their owners.

Many things can be lost.

A lost object, a precious possession but also those things that cannot be picked up physically, like a lost voice, a song, a friend, a love, your marbles.

We’ve travelled far to be here. We’ve sought and collected your lost things.

We invite you to come and find them and celebrate with us the feeling that comes when two things that have been separate, come together once more.

This is the story of a travelling fair, although not a fair of fast, over-priced rides and candy apples. A fair that has been travelling in one guise or another for centuries. Earliest sightings reported in 18th Century Europe, later in the 19th century across the Atlantic and again in the heady days of London in the 1920s.

At the helm is Peter Cavalier, an illusionist and philanthropist who has gathered around him an extended ‘family’ of people who are in some way lost. This weird and wonderful ‘family’ have attracted attention, suspicion and awe wherever they turn up and turn up they do, overnight they appear, stay for a few days and then disappear. Each fair is different, taking on the quirks and foibles of whatever place they end up in but the story is always the same: what have you lost and how can we help you find it?

But surely it’s not possible for this to be the same Peter Cavalier who began this work hundreds of years ago? How can one man travel across centuries? Can you trust an illusionist? What would bring him here? What lost things does he claim to be returning? What is it that he is searching for? And will he find it?

The service we offer is simple.

We reunite lost things with their owners.

The House of Lost and Found.

The trail is set and 16 lost objects are waiting for you in Saltwell Park. Download the app to discover the story of Peter Cavalier and explore the House of Lost and Found. Unlock content to learn more about the artists, follow the story and complete the trail.

There is a map indicating artwork locations. When you locate them in the park, there is a 4-digit code marked on a sign at each installation which you can then enter in the app to ‘unlock’ additional content. Once you have unlocked every artwork, you will also be entered into a prize draw for a House of Lost and Found goody bag.

Simply download the app to your mobile device and you’ll see the full trail and discover more about The House of Lost and Found from the moment you step in the park.

Enchanted Parks takes place on the evenings of Tuesday 4, Wednesday 5, Thursday 6, Friday 7, Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 December 2018.

Enchanted Parks is developed by NewcastleGateshead Initiative in partnership with Gateshead Council and funded by Arts Council England.